Christ is born. Christ is born. We have spent
40 days preparing for this day, fasting, praying,
meditating upon the coming of the Creator to
His world and fulfillment of everything that
Israel and the Jews believed. And now we are
here to celebrate this day. Sometimes I wonder,
after it's done, the celebration is done, how
much of Christmas, how much of Nativity has made
an impact, how much the cross has made an impact
in our life, how much the resurrection has made
an impact, or the teaching about the Trinity,
or the two natures of Christ, divine and human.
Because until those things are very well established
in our souls as not just teaching, but as a way
of life, The Christian life and our relationship
with Jesus will seem very external to us. On
Christmas, yes, we offer God something as the
wise men did. We offer him our life. But we also,
before we can do that, have to come to him to
be reborn continually, spiritually. We have to
then, as the wise men... went around Herod at
the end of that story. We have to learn how to
go around our sins and our passions. We have
to have Christ born in us anew, not just a Christmas.
But every time we come to church, this is our
constant prayer, I want to tell you a story.
It's not very Christmassy, but I feel compelled
to tell you this. It was about the year 305.
in a well -to -do city of Asia Minor called Nicomedia.
It was an imperial city. And the Christians,
by that point, had grown. There were many thousands
and thousands, over 20 ,000 Christians in the
city of Nicomedia by the year 305. And persecutions
had pretty much stopped in other places. of the
empire. But a new governor, just like you read
in Genesis, a new pharaoh came who knew not Moses,
who knew not Joseph. A new governor came with
instructions to stamp out Christianity, the Nazarenes
in Nicomedea, because they would not offer incense
to the Roman state gods. and therefore they were
unpatriotic and could not be relied upon. They
were subversive. They were atheists because they
wouldn't accept the gods. And through the month
of November in that year, Christians, important
Christians in the city government were rounded
up and they were given a choice, the usual choice,
offer incense and be put to death. Or it will
give you a more important position in the city.
Much more power, much more prestige. If you will
only, you don't have to believe, if you will
only offer to the gods. But they wouldn't. So
Christians were being killed. On Christmas Day,
in 305, Christians were celebrating, Orthodox
Christians were celebrating the nativity in the
church. Thousands of them, because it was a very
large church in this place. Unusual, but it's
true. And as they were celebrating the liturgy,
the governor told his soldiers to stack up wood
all around the outside of the church. And if
they had a megaphone, a bullhorn, they would
have said, come out or we're going to burn you
down. And the Christians knew that they'd come
out. They would be killed anyway because the
last threat of a worldly tyrant is death, right?
That's all he can do to you. Jesus said, don't
fear those that will kill the body, fear those
that will kill the soul. And the bishop in the
church cried out to the people. He said, brothers
and sisters, Let us take this God -given moment,
this opportunity, to pray as the three children
did in the furnace, to offer glorification to
our God. Praise Him, sun and moon, stars and
light, frosts, ice, rain, waters, people. And
they began the divine liturgy. And the wood was
stacked up outside the church, and the fire was
started. And everyone received communion. It
took five days for the church to burn down. And
it is said in the life, in the Synaxare, the
lives of the saints, that by the end of that
week, not just because of the fire, but because
of the persecutions earlier, 20 ,000 Christians
had perished. And when the faithful that were
hiding came out and they walked amidst the ruins
of the burned -down church, they didn't smell
the stench of human flesh, but they smelled sweet
-smelling myrrh. I'm telling you this story not
because it's anything like Jonestown and that
crazy thing in Guyana where everybody drank a
poison Kool -Aid. No one was planning to be a
martyr that day. I'm not telling you this story
because it's some kind of cult story to show
you how terribly weak we are. I'm telling you
this story to be inspired that when we come into
the church, we are coming to praise the God who
redeemed us from that kind of cruelty, that kind
of injustice, that kind of horror of this world.
Because he is the God of love. He is the God
of justice. He is the God of abasement and humility.
Those who sang in the church, who partook of
communion, they sang the glories of the Lord
who would redeem them. They said, let us make
necessity of death a virtue and become martyrs
for the Lord. And we celebrate their memory on
the 28th of December every year, although they
perished on Christmas Day. I tell you this, this
story, so you can evaluate your own love of God,
your own love of worship. If now we were threatened
with this church burning down, I would probably
say, my goodness, we've just spent $7 ,000 on
that. Let's go out and just save the day here.
But you know what? Tyrants and those who hate
God destroy the whole thing. You can't join their
side. You can't be on their side. If you are
not with me, Jesus says, you are against me.
So let us always be with Christ. never afraid
of anything in this world. I want to read you
now a short hymn Father Michael handed me because
it's relevant to what I just said. Rejoice, O
faithful! Make ready for the feast of the birth
of Christ. The King of kings comes to live with
his servants. You see, whether we live or we
die, We are with the Lord. Behold the most wonderful
mystery. The cave will become heaven. The virgin,
the throne of God. The manger, a room where Christ,
the Savior, will be laid in swaddling clothes.
When you look at the icon, the fresco of Nativity,
you see Christ, swaddling clothes, wrapped just
as he would be, laid in a cave after he was taken
down from the cross. Already we see the prefigurations
of why he came, not just so the angels could
tell us the news, but so that he would come to
die and rise and raise us up with him. Come,
people, slow of heart. Cast away the veil of
sin that lies upon your heart. Recognize the
Maker who comes to dwell among us. Let us make
ready to praise him and say, Blessed art thou,
O Lord. God of our fathers, praised and glorified,
and supremely glorified into the ages, for Christ
is born. For Christ is born. Let us all sing
with all our soul and with all our mind. Let
us sing.